Title 9 — Family Law

This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Safeguards for Children in Foster Care Act”.

(a) The General Assembly acknowledges that society has a responsibility, along with foster parents and the Department of Human Services, for the well-being of children in foster care. (b) Every child in foster care is endowed with the opportunities inherently belonging to all chi…

(a) Special safeguards, resources, and care should be provided to children involved in dependency-neglect cases who are in foster care or in an out-of-home placement because of the temporary or permanent separation from parents. (b) A child in foster care in the State of Arkansas…

The General Assembly recognizes that the state has a responsibility to protect children from abuse and neglect by providing services and supports that promote the safety, permanency, and well-being of the children and families of Arkansas.

There is created the Division of Children and Family Services within the Department of Human Services.

(a) The Division of Children and Family Services shall perform the following functions and have the authority and responsibility to:(1) Coordinate communication between various components of the child welfare system;(2) Provide services to dependent-neglected children and their f…

(a) The General Assembly recognizes that children are defenseless and that there is no greater moral obligation upon the General Assembly than to provide for the protection of our children and that our child welfare system needs to be strengthened by establishing a clear policy o…

(1) In all custodial placements by the Department of Human Services in foster care or adoption, preferential consideration shall be given to an adult relative over a nonrelated caregiver, if:(1) The relative caregiver meets all relevant child protection standards; and(2) It is in…

(a) The Department of Human Services and any other agency or entity that receives federal assistance and is involved in adoption or foster care placement shall not:(1) Discriminate on the basis of the race, color, or national origin of either the adoptive parent, foster parent, o…

(a) The Department of Human Services shall exercise due diligence to identify and provide notice to all adult grandparents, all parents of a sibling of the juvenile where the parent has legal custody of the sibling, and other adult relatives of a juvenile transferred to the custo…

(a) As used in this section:(1) “Fictive kin” means a person selected by the Division of Children and Family Services who:(A) Is not related to a child by blood or marriage; and(B) Has a strong, positive, and emotional tie or role in the:(i) Child's life; or(ii) Child's parent's …

(a) The policy of the State of Arkansas is that each child placed in the custody of the Department of Human Services should have stable placements. (b) (1) To reduce the number of placements of children in foster care, if a foster parent requests a foster child be removed from hi…

(1) The Department of Human Services shall not place or permit a child to remain in a foster home, unless it is in the best interest of the child to be placed in or to remain in the foster home, if the foster parent:(1) Or any other member of the household smokes; or(2) Allows an…

(a) The Department of Human Services shall be responsible for developing case plans in all dependency-neglect cases and in family-in-need-of-services cases when custody is transferred to the department under § 9-35-318. The case plan shall be:(1) (A) Developed in consultation wit…

(a) The Department of Human Services and school districts shall work together for the best interest of any child placed in the custody of the department. (b) By the next business day after the department exercises a seventy-two-hour hold on a child or a court places custody of a …

(a) (1) (A) It is the intent of the General Assembly that each child in foster care is:(i) Entitled to the same opportunities to meet the academic achievement standards to which all children are held;(ii) Assisted so that the child can remain in his or her school of origin;(iii) …

(a) The General Assembly finds that:(1) Each juvenile in foster care should have a family for a lifetime, but too many juveniles in foster care reach the age of majority without being successfully reunited with their biological families and without the security of permanent homes…

(a) A foster parent approved by a child placement agency licensed by the Department of Human Services shall not be liable for:(1) Damages caused by a foster child; or(2) Injuries to a foster child caused by acts or omissions of the foster parents unless the acts or omissions cons…

(a) (1) A child in the custody of the Department of Human Services shall not be placed in an approved home of any foster parent or adoptive parent unless all household members eighteen and one-half (18½) years of age and older, excluding children in foster care, have been checked…

(a) Local law enforcement shall provide the Department of Human Services with criminal background information on persons who have applied to be a provisional foster home, a regular foster home, or an adoptive home for the department upon request from the department. (b) Local law…

(1) All Division of Children and Family Services caseworkers, supervisors, and area directors shall have at least one (1) hour of annual training on issues related to:(1) Separation and placement; and(2) The grief and loss that children experience in foster care with multiple pla…

(a) As used in this section:(1) “Business” means any corporation, partnership, cable television company, association, individual, or utility company that is organized privately, as a cooperative, or as a quasi-public entity, and labor or other organization maintaining an office, …

(a) (1) The Department of Human Services shall place a notice on the department's web page when a fatality or near fatality of a child is reported to the Child Abuse Hotline under the Child Maltreatment Act, § 12-18-101 et seq., within seventy-two (72) hours of receipt of a repor…

(a) (1) The Division of Youth Services shall establish a method to calculate state costs saved that are realized from a reduction in the number of secure out-of-home placements.(2) (A) The division shall develop a reinvestment plan to redirect savings realized from a reduction in…

(a) The General Assembly recognizes that the state has a responsibility to provide its youth with appropriate services and programs to help decrease the number of juvenile offenders in the state and to create a better future for the state's youth and that reforms in the juvenile …

(a) There is hereby created the Division of Youth Services within the Department of Human Services. (b) (1) The Governor may appoint the Director of the Division of Youth Services or may delegate that function to the Secretary of the Department of Human Services.(2) The director …

(a) The Division of Youth Services shall perform the following functions and have the authority and responsibility to:(1) Coordinate communication among the various components of the juvenile justice system;(2) Oversee reform of the state's juvenile justice system, review the qua…

(a) The Division of Youth Services shall establish and maintain an observation and assessment center for the reception, orientation, classification, and adjustment evaluation of all youths committed to the division. (b) (1) The staff of the center shall be provided by the divisio…

(a) The physical facilities and programs at each of the youth services centers shall be designed and developed to be particularly suitable for the physical custody, care, education, and rehabilitation of youths of particular classifications. (b) In classifying and committing yout…

(a) When a court finds a delinquent juvenile committed a delinquent act while under eighteen (18) years of age, the court may commit the juvenile to the Division of Youth Services. (b) No court may commit a juvenile found solely in criminal contempt to the division.

(a) When any youth is committed to the Division of Youth Services as authorized in this section, the youth shall be under the exclusive care, physical custody, and control of the division from the time of the lawful reception of the youth by a youth services center until the yout…

(a) (1) An order of commitment to the Division of Youth Services shall state that the juvenile is found to be adjudicated a delinquent juvenile and shall state information regarding the underlying facts of the adjudication.(2) No circuit court may commit a juvenile found solely i…

(a) (1) Upon commitment to the Division of Youth Services, a youth shall be delivered to the observation and assessment center for orientation, classification, diagnosis, and evaluation.(2) Upon completion of such orientation, classification, diagnosis, and evaluation, the staff …

(a) (1) In consideration of its juvenile correctional role, the Division of Youth Services shall establish objective guidelines for length of stay when juveniles are committed to the division.(2) Except when an extended juvenile jurisdiction offender or a juvenile committed to th…

(a) If any delinquent youth committed to the Division of Youth Services escapes or absents himself or herself from a youth services center or facility without authorization, he or she may be returned to the facility by a law enforcement officer without further proceedings. (b) No…

All funds derived from the sale of agricultural products, livestock, or manufactured articles, or from other activities carried on at the youth services centers or facilities shall be deposited into the State Treasury in the Youth Services Fund Account of the Department of Human …

A.C.A. § 9-28-213Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

(a) If charged and found guilty as an adult for first degree escape, § 5-54-110, or second degree escape, § 5-54-111, a juvenile shall be given a mandatory sentence of not less than nine (9) months in an appropriate facility of the Division of Correction. (b) If adjudicated delin…

(a) As used in this section, “identifying and descriptive information” means any information pertaining to a juvenile that is necessary to safeguard public safety and aid in the apprehension of the juvenile, including without limitation:(1) A photo of the juvenile;(2) The name of…

(a) The Division of Youth Services shall promulgate rules to require the separation of juvenile offenders committed to a facility operated by the division based upon:(1) The age of the juvenile offender;(2) The seriousness of the crime or crimes committed by the juvenile offender…

(a) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, reports, correspondence, memoranda, case histories, or other material that personally identifies a juvenile, including protected health information, compiled or received by a juvenile detention facility, a community-based …

(a) In order to assure that juveniles committed to facilities operated by or under contract with the Division of Youth Services are not subject to unsafe and unsanitary living conditions, the Secretary of the Department of Human Services or a duly authorized agent is authorized t…

(a) (1) In order to assure that citizens of the State of Arkansas, the juveniles committed to facilities operated by or under contract with the Division of Youth Services, and the employees of the facilities are protected from injury and harm, the Secretary of the Department of C…

This subchapter shall be known as the “Child Welfare Agency Licensing Act”.

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Adoptive home” means a household of one (1) or more persons that has been approved by a licensed child placement agency to accept a child for adoption;(2) “Adverse action” means any petition by the Department of Human Services before the Child …

(a) (1) There is created the Child Welfare Agency Review Board to serve as the administrative body to carry out the provisions of this subchapter.(2) The board shall have the authority to promulgate rules to enforce the provisions of this subchapter.(3) An excluded child welfare …

(a) The Child Welfare Agency Review Board shall consist of Arkansas residents who shall be qualified as follows:(1) The director of the division within the Department of Human Services designated by the Secretary of the Department of Human Services to administer this subchapter o…

(a) (1) The Child Welfare Agency Review Board shall promulgate and publish rules setting minimum standards governing the granting, revocation, refusal, conversion, and suspension of licenses for a child welfare agency and the operation of a child welfare agency.(2) The board may …

(a) (1) The Department of Human Services shall advise the Child Welfare Agency Review Board regarding proposed rules.(2) The department shall obtain comments from the board prior to initiating the rule promulgation process. (1) The Department of Human Services shall advise the Ch…

(a) (1) It shall be unlawful for any person, partnership, group, corporation, association, or other entity or identifiable group of entities having a coordinated ownership of controlling interest to operate or assist in the operation of a child welfare agency that has not been li…